Rapunzel: A twist in the tower
by XxRin-sanxX
Summary: This is my twist on the classic tale of Rapunzel. Rated T for a good reason! Warning: is kind of on the long side. Hope you enjoy!


"The enchantress was so hard-hearted that she banished the poor girl to a wilderness where she had to live in a miserable, wrenched state."

You know the story of Rapunzel, right? Of how she was locked inside a tower by a witch & that she had long, beautiful tresses that allowed the old hag to climb into the tower. Ha! You know absolutely nothing about anything. My name is Salem and I am the daughter of the infamous - and dead - queen, Rapunzel. There was a daughter, of course, that was trapped inside a lone tower and never met another person her age until 15.

The girl was I, Salem, and I was trapped in a moldy, bricked up tower that stood alone surrounded by a thick mass of even thicker trees that blocked out most of the sky. This is the view I had as I sat on a flat, broken and highly uncomfortable brick that made up the ledge for my small window. I sighed, stood up and sighed again as I made my way to the small mirror that was hanging only by a needle that was stuck into the brick. A girl with blue-grey eyes and blond hair that looked like she forgot to do her hair in the morning stared back at me.

"Salem, oh Salem," called a masculine voice, "Let down your hair!" I narrowed my eyes at my reflection as I heard the voice call from below at the bottom of the tower. "This is all your fault, you know," I told my reflection, before heading back to the ledge. I leaned out the window by sitting on my knees on that uncomfortable ledge and holding on to the sides to the window. The voice had belonged to my father and from here he looked as tiny as a fly. "Yes, Father!" I yelled down to him.

I looked to my right and instantly saw the large hook that was stuck to the brick wall and began to wrap my hair around it. Now, as for my golden locks which are almost long enough to reach halfway down the tower, isn't nearly as long compared to same. This lonely tower is in the kingdom of Bersiadona where the woman - and on occasion men - are talented at growing their hair. That being said, my hair is actually quiet short.

"Salem!" I heard father yell, bringing me back to the present.

I shook my head and let my silver-blonde fall down and felt the familiar tug at my hair and had to grip the wall in order to risk not falling and breaking my neck. My father wasn't the lightest person in the world and I grabbed my hair to start pulling him up. It was ten minutes later that we were both inside of the tower and were heaving & panting on the stone cold floor.

"Salem," I heard my father say and looked over at him. He was looking at me, his amber eyes big & bright and his tussled half was half sticking up around his face and half down his neck. "Come here," he said, his voice gravelly.

I shuddered at the tone of his voice and placed my left hand on the bottom of my stomach. It was time like these that made me feel like a harlot, a whore, and I backed away and until my back hit the wall.

"Father…" I started and left my voice trail off, sighing again for the millionth time.

It was pointless, honest to Kfut, it was pointless. I closed my weary eyes and heard the shuffling as my father got closer & closer. My blue-grey eyes peeked open and I saw him lift his arm and bring it only a few inches away from my face, not touching it, just letting his hand hovering it in the air.

"My Rapunzel, my dear Rapunzel," he said, his voice humble. His eyes from my face to my gold locket that hung between my breasts- or maybe, he was just staring at my breasts. "I have missed you." This time I knew he was just staring at my breasts.

I watched silently as he licked his lips and put a strong hand on my left cheek. It was then that I decided to turn my face away & put my knees up, laying my head on them. I didn't have to see his face to know he frowned at my action.

"Dear, tell me, what 'tis wrong?"

"I am hungry," I lied.

I could not have been only less hungry, but to say that would make him focus on something other than my teenager body. To put it simply, my father loved me- but not as a father loves his daughter, but as his lover. I am the split-image of my deceased mother and my father never had a chance to really mourn her death and instead chose to make me his wife.

"Here, my love," he said, coming back over to me with a plate of jam & bread.

I was still backed against the old brick wall that was scratching holes into the thin nightgown that I was wearing. My back was the next target and I felt blood trickle down my sides and back.

"Thank you," I said carefully, moving slowly to accept the plate of food as to not hurt my back.

He started to smile at me, showing all of his teeth, until a loud, harsh horn sounded from somewhere outside this dreadful tower. It was the horn that signaled the beginning of late evening- and the signal that my father had to leave.

"Thank Damas," I muttered under my breath. Damas was the God of the Evening, and one of the many gods my people believe in.

"I must go," he said, "Rapunzel, dear heart, I will miss you." He said that as if it would be years until he see each other again and not just tomorrow. "I was late today, dear, because of the Dark Hands." The Dark Hands are a group of people who are revolting against my father as the king and want to put someone else - someone from the Dakiusus clan - in power.

It was sudden when he kissed me, his mouth was like a train colliding into my mouth and he tasted of wine and a strange honey. I braced my hands on his shoulders and gagged as he forced his tongue past my clenched teeth and down my throat. His huge hands were needy & he slipped them under my thin nightgown and up towards my breasts. I screamed at him to let me go, but he must have thought it was a moan because he kissed me harder. His fingers groped my bare breasts and I fought the urge to throw up.

Suddenly, his hands stopped and tickled my stomach as they began to move lower and lower. My eyes popped opened as I realized fully what he intended to do. Then, a named appeared in my mind, a single name, just a word, that more made my pulse quicken, my blood rush & give me strength. It was that name that gave me the strength to bite his bottom lip and use my hands, which were still on his shoulders, to push him away. _Rapunzel…_

M father stumbled a few feet and then fell on his butt. He looked up at me, his amber eyes showing the shock he felt. He slowly lifted his right hand and slowly placed it on top of his heart. I had expected him to get angry just like the last time, but instead he looked hurt and dejected.

"My dearest," he said, his voice was soft and displayed his hurt emotions. "Tell me, what have I done to offend you?"

The words & tone of voice shocked me into saying anything for a moment. The last time I pushed him away - last week, actually - he got angry, struck me on my face and demanded I let down my hair - not to mention nearly pulling my golden locks out with the force he used. I had to remind myself that it was this cruel man who locked me in this tower as an infant.

The sound of twigs breaking shocked my father into this horrid thing we call reality and he practically ran to the window. I cursed silently as I got up, once for the pain in my back and again for Dimitri and fatal mess up. The person who made the Dimitri of the Dakiusus and he was scouting the area. I met the boy only a year ago when he got lost in the thick forest of even thicker trees and found my lonely tower as he searched for the way back to the kingdom. It was decided two weeks after his first visit that he would free me once my grew long enough to reach the base of the tower. In all honesty, he probably thought I would be good in bed. Dimitri probably thought I was naïve and clueless in this tower - he doesn't know that my father had tutored me and brought books for me to study and read. What? Did you think this was going to be all romantic, about how he fell in love with me? Ha!

"Rapunzel," my father said, breaking the silence and my thoughts. "I fear I must go."

I figured that was his way of asking me to let down my hair and slowly got up and went to the window. I noticed that he didn't try to touch or kiss me like he usually does. I felt my father's gaze burning into the back of my skulls I began to wrap my hair around the large hook and stepped to the side to the left him out. He left silently, without a word.

It was the next day when I heard his voice calling from out the window. No, not my father's, but the voice of Dimitri. He came and climbed into the tower yesterday after my father left, proclaiming that the rest of the Dark Hands would distract my father and he will help me escape. I had to roll my eyes and he tried to sound all high & mighty. Of course, I acted like I was grateful, and I was, but he was being why to arrogant for my liking. He told me that I would hook my hair around it and lower myself down as much as I could…and then drop down and he would _hopefully _catch me.

Am I the only one who is a tad bit doubtful that I'd live? I silently began to let my hair down, bracing my hands on the side of that window, and helped him up. It took less than it had with my father since Dimitri was lighter.

I eyed him and I felt my flush as he eyed me back, his icy blue eyes studying my body much like my father had the day before. "Are you ready for this," he asked me.

"Probably not," I said truthfully. I started wondering what would happen if he found out my own father was the one he & his father were trying to kill. Yeah, I left that little part out. "Are you sure you would be able to catch me?"

He looked at me with a rueful half smile. "We have no other plan, now do we?"

Do you see what I mean when he I say he is annoying? I decided that I would not answer him and went to go and sit on that brick ledge by that cursed window. It was silent for a few heartbeats and the only noise was the thick trees rustling in the wind. I noticed the wind sounded like a lone oaxican trying to find his mate. Are you lonely as well, my dear?

Suddenly, the sounds of twigs of popping under heavy boots could be heard from below at the bottom of the tower. When I squinted I saw my father wavy his arms and instinctively waited for the all-too-familiar shout.

"Salem, oh Salem," he called out as if he heard my thoughts, "Let down your hair!"

I know you guys are probably wondering why I let him in the tower, huh? You wonder why when I know he is in love with me, right? Well, how do you think I eat? I couldn't eat anything that grows from this moldy tower - it would be as rotten as this tower.

"What is _he_ doing here?" demanded Dimitri from behind me. I suspected his words held a double meaning in them. The double meaning being what is my father doing here and, of course, what is the king doing here at all.

I turned around enough to face him. "He must have come earlier than usual. You must have noticed that he has been coming at random time periods when you watche dthe tower, haven't you? You know, he was telling me about a group called the Dark Hands and how they have been messing up everything." My words were said innocently enough, but the smirk on my face and glint in my eyes made it pretty obvious the words were anything but innocent.

Dimitri took a step towards me and I saw his face grow red with anger, and maybe some hatred. "You…," he seemed to be trying to find the right words to match his anger. "You slimy little bitch, you lied to me." His words were said dangerously low. "I should hove you out that window you love so much," he voice was taunting now. He took another step forward and for a second I feared that he really would push me out the window.

I turned to him, letting my body move gracefully and sensually, before closing the space between us in one fluent movement. I placed a hand on his chest, where his heart was and lifted up to whisper in his air, letting my warm breath tickle his ear. "If you did that, dear one, how would you escape his tower?" The word _alive _wasn't at the end of the sentence, but it hung in the air like a bad smell.

I watched, slightly amused, as his eyes went from angry to startled, but he never got a chance to retort as my father yelled, interrupted whatever he was going to say. "Salem!' I heard him call up to me in a desperate attempt to get me to let him in.

I ignored Dimitri as I went to the window. "A moment, Father," I shouted down to him.

I felt the boy behind me grab my arm before he spun me around. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you want me to do," I asked him, breaking my arm free of his hold, "let him stay down there until the late evening bell? He'll do it to, he may even risk staying even longer. This is not first time I ignored his calls, you know."

He looked ready to strangle me as he said, "Well, you told me he brought you as an infant, right? Wouldn't there have to be stairs?"

I gave him a look that let him know I was thinking poorly on his intelligence. "If there were stairs would I still be here? No, the stairs all broke and fell down years ago, when I was still too young & scared to be brave enough to go down the stairs." He hadn't started touching me at that age- not until my brown hair faded into its golden color and my mother passed.

I turned around and started to ignore both him and his words and began to wrap my hair around the hook to let my father in. My father had been in mid-shout and stopped when he saw my golden hair cascade down the side of the tower. Behind me, I heard Dimitri start pacing and muttering, surprising calm, considering how angry he seemed only minutes ago. When I had finally gotten my father inside the tower, he didn't seem to Dimitri , but that was probably because of all the heaving and panting we were doing. My father might not have noticed him, but Dimitri sure noticed my father. His eyes held a strange glint to them, his dominant hand rested lightly on his hip, where I was certain his hand rested on a hidden blade. I tried to get up, but with all the heavy and panting and along with watch their actions, I had forgotten to tie my hair.

I saw Dimitri smirk at him and got mixed feelings, on one hand, I would be thankful for his death, maybe even relieved after all he's done to me. But on the hand, he is my father. "Dimitri…," I started, but quickly realized he wasn't listening to me.

My fathers' eyes widened when he finally seemed to realize there were three people this tower, not two.

"Hello, King," said Dimitri in a mocking voice. I was right when I thought he had a hidden blade on him somewhere, it was now swinging lightly from his hand. "How do you do?" His voice had the same mocking tone as before.

Father got up wearily and eyed his clothing, his eyes showing his fear, shock and anger. I know exactly why, too. Dimitri was wearing a black shirt with sleeves that reaches mid-arm, a necklace with a black hand on it, and black trousers- the uniform of the Black Hands, and my dad recognizes it easily. You know, I probably should have seen what happens next coming, it was that obvious, or maybe I had and ignored it. Who knows?

"What," my father demanded, "Rapunzel, is this worthless piece of scum doing here?"

I noted that his voice changed from being light and lustful to being harsh and more father-like than usual. It was the first time I ever heard this tone in over 4 years. I watched as both men began to eye each other, their eyes narrow, their hands cracking as open and closed their hands. They looked ready to kill each other.

And then it happened, Dimitri lunged at my father, holding that blade at my fathers' throat, and was holding onto my dad tightly, but it wasn't like he could move with a blade a his throat. My father didn't seem to be breathing and I couldn't if it was fear or the blade at his throat that is making him stop. Dimitri gave me a smug look that made me want to strangle him.

"Well, well, King you never answered my question, he said, smirking down at my father. He looked down at - I was _still_ sitting down on the cold, stone floor - me and let out a laugh and turned around so that his back was to me and my father facing toward the window. This time I wasn't oblivious and moved across the floor to grab his leg. _If anyone is killing him it's me_, I thought quickly and with anger as I starting pulling on one of his legs. "Argh," he shouted, trying to pull on his leg away from me. He stepped on one of my fingers with the end his black boots and I screeched.

My father dared to speak then, "Rapunzel," he said to me, his voice harsh and crackly. To Dimitri he growled, "Don't hurt her." He starting trying to kick him for the first time since he put the blade at his throat.

We were right up against that hard , brick ledge and I heard Dimitri muttering something, but couldn't figure out what exactly. I grabbed at him harder trying to dig my nails into his skin. I succeeded and he howled trying to step on my fingers again.

"For for Black Hands!" he bellowed suddenly, giving me a sharp kick to my face.

The next thing I heard was fathers' pain-filled howl and a dropped blade on the stone floor. I had to blink a few times to get my sight back after he kicked me and I fell backwards onto my back. When I could see I saw Dimitri get ready to push him out the window.

"No," I screamed, reaching for the back of his shirt and grabbed it in a desperate attempt to save my father.

I pretty much did the exact opposite. When I grabbed his shirt, I put to much force when I did it…and we all fell out the window. The next few seconds were a rush of fear and extreme confusion. I hadn't realized my eyes were closed until I opened them. I was clutching the huge hook, dangling in the air, my hands tightly gripping the hook and my golden hair still wrapped around that huge hook. I was scared, obviously, and began to look around at my surroundings.

"Salem," I heard a voice say, "help me!" I looked below me to see Dimitri hanging from my hair. Funny, I was so scared that I haven't felt him.

"How do we get down from here?" I was looking down at him now, I had to take some amusement that he lost his usual smug and arrogant look and now looked as scared as I felt. He looked around like I did and seemed to get stuck on something. "What is it?" I asked, wondering if I could jump inside the tower from here.

"The tree branch over there-" he pointed as much as he could without letting go of my hair "- I can reach it from here if I swing from your hair."

"And what about I?" I asked, adjusting my grip. This wasn't good, my hands were not going to hold for next longer.

"Swing your hair back and fourth when I reach the tree, I'll grab it and when you let go, I'll catch you and we'll climb down that tree."

I didn't believe for a second he'll catch me or even try to catch me- I was the daughter of the dead king, after all- and opened my mouth to protest, but a scream came out instead. One of my hands had slipped and I quickly grabbed onto the hook with it and made up my mind.

"Jump for it, Dimitri. If you couldn't tell we are both minutes away from falling to the base of this dreadful tower," I said, fighting to hold my grip.

He didn't reply and began to use my hair to swing from. My golden locks went side to side four times before the weight was lifted when Dimitri jumped. I waited to hear his scream and a loud flop sound from below, but instead I just heard a few muttered cusses and Dimitri landing on a branch.

"Now start to swing your hair, Salem, and when I grab it, let go-" he paused, hesitating, "-and I'll catch you."

Obviously, considering the situation, I didn't take me long to make up my mind. I began to swing my hair back and fourth slow enough for him to be able to grab it. He grabbed it on the last swing and gave it a tug to let me know. Now, the hard part, letting myself down and only going on a hope that he'll catch me. It turned out I didn't really have a choice because a moment later my hands and arms gave out and I fell. You know, I don't think I'll ever forget that one moment of fear, pure fear, as I saw my life flash before me so fast that I didn't really have a chance to really see it. And then Dimitri caught me- just barely, but caught me nonetheless.

"Dimitri," I started, panting heavily as I huddled into his warm chest, "you actually caught me."

"Come on, with our luck this branch will break," he said simply, grabbing my wrist and helping me carefully move across the branch.

The rest of the way was actually silent and the only talking was a quick "thank you" or "you're welcome" as we helped each other not to slip and fall- and a few muttered cusses to Dhamai, the goddess of Bad Luck, naturally. It was almost a full two hours passed when my feet fit the grass that surrounded the tower. It caused mixed feelings to be outside that moldy, bricked up tower, it was a strange mix of relief, terror, happiness and something else that I couldn't place.

"What will you do now, Salem? You have never been outside that tower?" asked Dimitri, he had gotten down and went to the chestnut horse that he apparently had tied to a nearby tree all this time. "Well," he asked as he mounted the horse.

"I don't know, Dimitri," I said honestly. Honesty was the least I could give him after saving me.

I could see and hear him sigh as he made the horse walk over to me. "Are you coming or not?"

"What?" I hadn't expected that. It was obvious I didn't exactly think of how I was going to escape the thick forest of even thicker trees.

"You are going to come with me, aren't you? It is my duty to help the beautiful damsel in distress, of course." He gave me a cocky grin- well, at least that hasn't changed.

I thought about it for a moment a moment as I considered my options. I could stay here and try to navigate through the forest with no food or water or let him give me a horseback ride through these trees.

"Help me up," I demanded.

A few minutes later I sat atop his horse and I had my arms around his waist and we began to gallop through the thick trees.

That was the end to my not-so-fairy tale, fairy tale life.

* * *

**_Author's Note: You don't have to read this, just a backstory on how this story came to be. This started out as a school project to write a short story and after stressing, thinking and pulling out my hair, this story was written. It took weeks. I had wrote it by hand months ago and it was an entire tweleve pages long; typed up it is only seven. It the end, I never gave it in, but one of my teachers did read it and said they loved. Yeah, so this is the whole backstory._**

**_Review if you want, I just hope you enjoyed reading it! =]_**


End file.
